A place to discuss published SF—novels, short stories, comics, images, and more. Not sure if a book is SF? Then post it! Science Fiction, Fantasy, Alt. History, Postmodern Lit., and more are all welcome here. The key is that it be speculative, not that it fit some arbitrary genre guidelines. Any sort of link or text post is welcome as long as it is about printed/text/static SF material.

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I plan on writing a science fiction novella by reference to other sf literature which appeals to a modern audience. At the same time I want to investigate the changes which have taken place in the sf genre within the last ten or twenty years.

Now I need your help to find especially newer books, since I am not so familiar with them.

I already know of the following titles:

Dune by Frank Herbert (1965)

Ender's Game by Scott (1985)

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philipp K. Dick (1968)

Hyperion by Dan Simmons (1989)

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

The moon is a harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein (1966)

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (1993)

Since I mainly look for hard sf, do you think those are suitable? Which one do you recommend the most? And what are some titles from the last ten years I should definitely read?

Sorry if I was unclear: I actually don't read a lot of sf books and I haven't read any of those I have listed above. I don't compare two books, I 'm going to try to describe changes/ development in sf writing within the last 10-30 years in some way.

Wool looks definitely interesting and I think I'll look further into it. Thank you very much!

I agree that you need to narrow your research focus. For example, you could focus on a particular technology, or the way that a particular social issue has been reflected in sci fi works over the years. Your research question will inform your reading list. You will end up with a very different set of books if you decide to look at artificial intelligence vs. sex and sexuality (say).

Also… do you have to do this project on sci fi? It sounds to me like you’re very new to the genre (which is no crime, everyone has to start somewhere) but if you can choose to work on any genre, you may find you get a better grade if you pick something where you’re already familiar with some of the key works, and you know generally how the genre has developed.

If you wanna investigate changes in the last 10-20 years, then Red Mars is looking like the furthest you can go back. There's an incredible analystic essay by Frederic Jameson on Robinson's Mars trilogy you should read. He talks about the utopian element in KSR's fiction.

Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age (1995) would be another highly influential novel of the nineties. I believe Bacigalupi's The Wind-up Girl wouldn't exist without that as a precursor.

If you wanna fit in some LeGuin, the story suite Four Ways to Forgiveness (1995) is an excellent analysis of colonization effects, and regime dissection.

And it'd be foolish not to include Octavia Butler in this project. For your purposes, I'd suggest The Parable of the Sower (1993) and The Parable of Talents (1998).

SF of the new millemium (other than the aforementioned Hugo winner, The Wind-up Girl), I guess some Miéville? You'd be better off gleaning advice from others, perhaps.

I think you should include writers like Ted Chiang ('A story of your life' is available online pdf format) and Ken Liu for short stories, they certainly represent 21th century SF writing, significantly different to the titles you listed and they can be read reasonably quickly.

I agree that Kim Stanley Robinson and Neal Stephenson are probably the most influential hard SF writers, but unless you read very quickly reading all of the above + some Neal Stephenson would take a fair amount of time

The Stars My Destination (alternatively Tyger, Tyger) and The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester are older books but are interesting reads as they foreshadow a lot of what happened in the next 50 years of Sci-Fi with cyberpunk and the "New Wave" of science fiction. Fun fact: The character Bester in the 90's show Babylon 5 was named after him due to his influence and use of telepaths in his stories.

One book that I've recently read that is very of-it's-time (2011, so roughly now) is Charles Stross Rule 34. I hesitate to say it couldn't possibly have been written more than 20 years ago because... Neuromancer (or more to the point Idoru, but that's less than 20 years ago)... but still, it couldn't. In terms of how he handles the narrative, it's probably the most literary sci fi I've ever read. It would be really good to get into from a proper literary critical point of view.

China Mieville's done a lot in recent years, so worth checking out.

The Children of Men, by PD James might squeak in under your 20 year limit (if you were generous).